New to this forums, so hello from this here noob!

[xinity]

(Pics Included) New to these forums, so hello from this here noob!

Hey everyone! I'm new to this forum and haven't really posted squat so here I am. My boat is a 96' Challenger 787 single. It's fits my family of three well and is an absolute blast. :driving: Anyways, if anyone has any recommendations as what to look out for or change on this model boat, feel free to say so.

Mods so far:
~ Removed the "90's" decaling
~ Hydro-Turf Kit in Green
~ Clarion Stereo and Speakers
~ Two Toned the Hood Green and White (to match the seats)
~ 12V Power Point

 

[howie099]

The boat is in good shape. There is not much in performace mods except for impellers. Some people add another battery for the stero in case you park alot and listen to the radio. Most people to the stero upgrades and lighting upgrades. To me the boat looks look you have tunes and hyro-turf just take it out and ride.

 

[Dr Honda]

Yep... what he said.

If you want it to be reliable... don't try to push any more power out of that tiny little engine. 110 Hp is already pushing it.

A Skat-Track "Swirl" impeller is a good impeller to improve the acceleration, and towing power.

Otherwise... that model didn't have any issues that need fixed.

Congrats.

 

[xinity]

Well that's good news they didn't have any major problems. I'm happy with the performance and understand 110hp is a lot for that little powerplant. At the moment the issue I have is the rubber boot that the exhaust tip exits the transom, it's dry rotted and torn, also it is discontinued from BRP. Seems like the speedster and sportsters use a plastic exhaust exit and this boat is different for some odd reason. So I've been shopping for an aftermarket thru-hall tip and making it fit. I don't like the fact I'm getting water in from that torn boot. Also I'm getting water in the interior of the boat from the drain on the drivers side, I think that valve is bad because its not obstructed or dirty. I am changing out my hydro turf as well, I just ordered the flat contour in gray from PWCmuscle.com. I have dark green matts in it now, sort of looks off with the teal green in the rest of the boat, not sure what I was thinking :facepalm:

 

[Dr Honda]

I don't know if I really looked at the exhaust tip on the challenger that close. But, it should be the same size as the other boats. I would imagine you could get a more solid tip, and replace it.


****EDIT*****


I just looked over the parts diagrams... and you could probably use the exhaust tip from the 1800 challenger. (with a couple mods)

 

[rjcress]

Looks good. I really like the look without the LSD paintbrush graphics. I think I'm going to steal your idea and paint the hood section like you did.

 

[xinity]

I don't know if I really looked at the exhaust tip on the challenger that close. But, it should be the same size as the other boats. I would imagine you could get a more solid tip, and replace it.


****EDIT*****


I just looked over the parts diagrams... and you could probably use the exhaust tip from the 1800 challenger. (with a couple mods)

Thanks for the idea, I'll check them diagrams out before I make any set decisions. As of now I was planning on trimming the exhaust piping back, filling in the holes in the transom from to ring bolts and flange with fiberglass and going with this tip (http://www.boatersplus.com/centek-i...gn=googlepla&gclid=CKWtobCjmbcCFcyR3godtRQAUw) using rubber exhaust hose to attach it to the muffler, not sure if I should go with a tip that has a flapper or not though.

 

[xinity]

Looks good. I really like the look without the LSD paintbrush graphics. I think I'm going to steal your idea and paint the hood section like you did.

Thanks! I thought removing them made it look "newer", or cleaner, however you want to see it. Two-toning the hood actually came by accident. I was removing the decal on it using a rubber eraser wheel and a drill but I stayed in one spot to long and it melted the plastic :facepalm: So I filled it in, sanded it then painted it white with some clear coat. Had no "teal green" paint so white had to do haha.

 

[Guest_User]

Boat looks great! Good Job!
where abouts do you ride?

the challenger 1800 exhaust piece has a threaded collar on the inside for securing to the hull, no more holes needed, just a small notch to prevent the assy from turning. If the Bore OD size is the same as what you have in that hull, this would be a good choice...

 

[xinity]

Boat looks great! Good Job!
where abouts do you ride?

the challenger 1800 exhaust piece has a threaded collar on the inside for securing to the hull, no more holes needed, just a small notch to prevent the assy from turning. If the Bore OD size is the same as what you have in that hull, this would be a good choice...

I've been staying in local places, mostly on the Susquehanna River. I saw that style exhaust tip and would like it to work but I'm positive the O.D. of this boot is bigger than that threaded tip. Here's a pic..


Looks like anything else seadoo currently has for a transom exhaust exit, even on the ski's won't be a bolt on fix or replacement. No biggie, nothing some fiberglass, filler and paint can't change. Just going with that tip I posted above.

Gave her a good bath and buffing yesterday as well!

 

[xinity]

Replaced the hydroturf today, went with a smooth pattern in light gray. Also put in some fresh NGK plugs. I found a heavy amount of oil laying in the bottom of the bilge but could not find any bad lines. I did noticed that it looked like oil was comming out of the breather/valve on the oil tank, is it possible I have overfilled the reservoir? Theres no fill line so I'm not sure.

 

[Dr Honda]

The new turf looks great !! I've put it on all my toys.


The oil in the tank has a tendency of weeping past the seals. Basically... the fittings just push into the plastic tank... and they will leak a little. (kind of normal) if it's excessive... then the grommets need replaced.


If you want to clean out the bilge... use "Super clean" and spry it all over. Then... just hose it out. Do that once or twice... and it will look new.

 

[xinity]

Thanks for the tip! Checked the gromets, they seem dry. Next time I have it on the water I'll pull the engine cover and just keep an eye on things. I'm just terrified to burn up this engine, currently has 40 hours on it and runs stong. I flushed out the engine bay, plugged in the hose and let it run for a short period of 2 minutes, It was making this wierd "metal" rattling noising in the pump area, I checked the pump housing, all control cables, and the grate under the boat, engine mounts. Everything is tight. Is this a normal noise from the pump out of water? Like I said it was ran a short time, I know it's not healthy for the drive seal, just wanted to start it up after washing it down.

 

[FinnExplorer]

Thanks for the tip! Checked the gromets, they seem dry. Next time I have it on the water I'll pull the engine cover and just keep an eye on things. I'm just terrified to burn up this engine, currently has 40 hours on it and runs stong. I flushed out the engine bay, plugged in the hose and let it run for a short period of 2 minutes, It was making this wierd "metal" rattling noising in the pump area, I checked the pump housing, all control cables, and the grate under the boat, engine mounts. Everything is tight. Is this a normal noise from the pump out of water? Like I said it was ran a short time, I know it's not healthy for the drive seal, just wanted to start it up after washing it down.

I believe it's that so called "sea-doo rattle" cause the pump don't have any load at idle...

 

[Murph_13]

The boat looks really clean and you've made some nice mods already! I'm sure you and your family will get many hours of fun-in-the-sun out of it!

Like others have mentioned, a Skat Trak Swirl impeller makes a nice improvement, either a 17/22 or 14.5/22 works nice in that boat. I preferred the 14.5/22 after having tried both in my 96 Challenger. Probably the best mod I made to mine was adding Nauticus trim tabs, the boat rode so much nicer, quicker to plane and significantly reduces porpoising and chine walking.

Water in the passenger area...I had this issue too. I replaced the scupper valve, which needed replacing, with the revised design (caged ball that mounts external and is supposed to seat from outside water pressure) and found that it too would occasionally leak. I went to the hardware store (Home Depot should have them) and got a rubber stopper (I believe a #8 stopper is what worked) and screwed a knob onto the top of it and plugged the drain by the drivers feet to keep water out. I also kept a shammy onboard to wipe down the inside if needed.

Enjoy! Boat looks great!

Here's a couple pics of the Nauticus trim tabs:

 

[Murph_13]

I almost forgot...the rattle sound is normal. I believe it was the following year that they introduced the "anti-rattle" design. They also sell the "anti-rattle" kit (a spring, plunger and revised stator cone), which I did put on my boat and found it to make a small improvement, but it's normal to sound that way.

 

[rjcress]

... It was making this wierd "metal" rattling noising in the pump area, I checked the pump housing, all control cables, and the grate under the boat, engine mounts. Everything is tight. Is this a normal noise from the pump out of water?

While I agree with the comments that a rattle is common, without hearing YOUR specific rattle, I would be afraid to say "don't worry about it". Could be something like bad bearings in the jet pump... or who knows what else. I'm pretty new at this myself, so take my feedback with that caveat... I just get nervous about diagnosing ANY weird noises unless I hear them myself.

Also, I'm curious how the new color of turf is working for you. I noticed that you switched from a darker color to a lighter color.
I have the same color scheme on my boat and went with a light grey. I am really frustrated at how nasty it is looking already. I have dirt and grease stains everywhere, and that is even with me being careful where I put things. I LOVE the foam under foot, but am already regretting the color choice.

 

[xinity]

The boat looks really clean and you've made some nice mods already! I'm sure you and your family will get many hours of fun-in-the-sun out of it!

Like others have mentioned, a Skat Trak Swirl impeller makes a nice improvement, either a 17/22 or 14.5/22 works nice in that boat. I preferred the 14.5/22 after having tried both in my 96 Challenger. Probably the best mod I made to mine was adding Nauticus trim tabs, the boat rode so much nicer, quicker to plane and significantly reduces porpoising and chine walking.

Water in the passenger area...I had this issue too. I replaced the scupper valve, which needed replacing, with the revised design (caged ball that mounts external and is supposed to seat from outside water pressure) and found that it too would occasionally leak. I went to the hardware store (Home Depot should have them) and got a rubber stopper (I believe a #8 stopper is what worked) and screwed a knob onto the top of it and plugged the drain by the drivers feet to keep water out. I also kept a shammy onboard to wipe down the inside if needed.

Enjoy! Boat looks great!

Here's a couple pics of the Nauticus trim tabs:

Thanks! I'm glad you posted info on the impeller I was just searching the forum for that, did it improve acceleration or just top speed, have any GPS results? I'm happy with how the boat performs now but concerned how she will act with 4 people on it. I've only ever had 2 people on it and our gear, and with the other person off it didn't make a difference oddly enough.

 

[xinity]

While I agree with the comments that a rattle is common, without hearing YOUR specific rattle, I would be afraid to say "don't worry about it". Could be something like bad bearings in the jet pump... or who knows what else. I'm pretty new at this myself, so take my feedback with that caveat... I just get nervous about diagnosing ANY weird noises unless I hear them myself.

Also, I'm curious how the new color of turf is working for you. I noticed that you switched from a darker color to a lighter color.
I have the same color scheme on my boat and went with a light grey. I am really frustrated at how nasty it is looking already. I have dirt and grease stains everywhere, and that is even with me being careful where I put things. I LOVE the foam under foot, but am already regretting the color choice.

I haven't had the boat out yet with the new turf but I noticed it is easy to dirty up just from walking on but found it easy to clean as well. My old dark green turf I never cleaned and honestly...never looked dirty because of how dark it was, but didn't like it. I'm willing to sacrifice some to gain some. I personally think it looks better but I know it will need cleaned more often.

 

[Murph_13]

Thanks! I'm glad you posted info on the impeller I was just searching the forum for that, did it improve acceleration or just top speed, have any GPS results? I'm happy with how the boat performs now but concerned how she will act with 4 people on it. I've only ever had 2 people on it and our gear, and with the other person off it didn't make a difference oddly enough.

When I bought my boat, unbeknownst to me it had a Skat Trak Swirl 17/22 impeller in it. I damaged that impeller the second year I owned the boat. The boat was still very useable so I decided to order parts before tearing it down for repair. I assumed it had a stock impeller in it based on the PO and I was happy with the boat's performance so I ordered a stock impeller from Sea Doo (11/25 progressive pitch with square leading edges; made in Taiwan and cost more than a far superior Skat Trak made in the USA). When I was making the repair is when I discovered that the impeller was not stock. I was SO disappointed in the performance of the stock impeller...it was terrible "out of the hole" with any amount of weight in the boat (cavitated like crazy if you hammered the throttle down...which is what you want to do!). You had to "walk" the boat "out of the hole" to get on plane with a load in the boat. I couldn't stand the difference between the Skat Trak and the stock impeller so I ordered another Skat Trak and removed the pristine condition stock impeller as soon as the Skat Trak came in. Come to think of it, I pretty sure I have this on the shelf in the original packaging if anyone is interested...I don't think I did a very good sales pitch on it though! I think the first thing you should do is try and determine what impeller is currently in your boat if you don't already know.

To answer your questions, the Skat Trak (both the 14.5/22 and 17/22) improved acceleration from a stand still tremendously! To be honest with you, I don't recall what affect it had on top speed as my biggest concern was getting the boat up out of the water and going with a load in/on the boat, but I'm sure I would recall if I had lost significant top end speed. I never did get a GPS speed on that boat, but the speedo would read 50-52 mph with just myself onboard or myself and another person in good conditions.

rjcress, you make a very good point in regard to the "rattle" sound, I definitely assumed that everything was in proper order and shouldn't have not having heard the specific sound.

 

[rjcress]

I wish I could give you objective, comparative info on the impeller.
I purchased my '96 Challenger with a locked-up engine. While the engine was off at SES being rebuilt I looked at my jet pump and found that it did not rotate very freely, needed a wear ring and steering nozzle replacement, and appeared to have the stock impeller.
When I priced the pump rebuild kit, wear ring and new or even used Skat impeller, the total was higher than what I found for a recently rebuilt jet pump with the Skat 17/22 already installed from a guy on ebay that parts out LOTS of machines. So, I opted to just buy the one that was already done.
On my GTX I couldn't find such a deal, so I bought the parts and did it myself, and added a used aftermarket impeller to that one as well.

Anyhow, the original impeller is still in the original jet pump which has not been rebuilt or re-installed. So, I don't know how the boat does with the stock impeller.

What I can tell you is that with the 17/22 Skat and my engine running poorly due to an error I made in the engine installation after the rebuild, with 3 people on board (about 500 Lbs), a FULL tank of gas, and less than an hour on the engine, the gps on my phone indicated 48 mph. And yes, I have since read the engine break-in directions and realize that I should not have been doing any full throttle runs that early in the engine break-in.

A touch of background: Because of the error I made installing the rebuilt engine, it lasted only 2 hours before the pistons melted. I sent it back to SES to be rebuilt again and just got it back this week. Installed it on Monday, first test ride was Tuesday and we had about 300 Lbs of people and had only burned a gallon or so from the full tank of gas. First step of break-in is 10 minutes of idling, then 30 minutes of varying rpm, never to exceed 20% of throttle, followed by a cool-down period. Second step is running at varying rpms up to 50% of throttle.

A nice surprise!
I have read other folks with similar single 787 engined boats needing to get into the throttle quite a bit to get on plane, even when they have good pumps with servicable wear rings and no known air leaks. At 50% throttle I was on plane in probably less than 5 seconds. I was able to stay on plane as low as about 35% throttle.
I really wish I had experience with the stock impeller to say whether this is common or not, but the impression I get from other folks on the forum is that I would not have been able to get on plane at 50% throttle with a stock impeller, and would not have been able to stay on plane down to 35% throttle.

I haven't been able to run the boat at full throttle on the latest rebuild, but hope to this weekend. I'm very eager to see what kind of performance I get with just me (about 200Lb), and with the whole family (2 adults, 3 kids & dog, totaling about 600Lbs, plus gas... geez, we can only carry about 6 or 7 gal and stay under the placarded 650 Lb limit).

 

[xinity]

Well you two have me convinced the skat impeller is a must, but read from another place it will increase acceleration but decrease top speed. Any links where I can locate a new one. I'm finding used ones and all say they fit the XP, is that compatible with the challenger pump?

 

[rjcress]

Well you two have me convinced the skat impeller is a must, but read from another place it will increase acceleration but decrease top speed. Any links where I can locate a new one. I'm finding used ones and all say they fit the XP, is that compatible with the challenger pump?

The current jet pump on my Challenger came off of a SeaDoo PWC... ie. not off of a boat. The pumps themselves are the same. Some of the extras, like the reverse gate and steering nozzle may differ a bit, and I think most of the PWCs use bailers that suck out any water from the engine bay via suction from 2 tubes that stick into the jet stream (instead of an electric bilge pump)... but the pump still works fine.
Just make sure you get the one for the 140mm jet pump.
Here is Skat's chart of what they recommend: http://www.skat-trak.com/pdf/ImpellerApplChart_2011_SeaD.pdf
For the 96 Challenger they note the 140mm pump, and that the 17/22 swirl is for top speed gain, and 14.5/22.5 is for bottom to mid range acceleration gains.

I've not used impros.com, but I've heard good things about them.

I see one on ebay now for just under $100. It is listed as for an XP, but it is the same part.

 

[xinity]

Sweet. Impros.com is probably who I will go with, they have the impeller, wear ring and the shaft seal in stock. I'm going to go look at the impeller on my boat before ordering, is there any dead give aways just by looking at it to tell if my pump has the factory impeller or an aftermarket?

 

[OneT]

sorry wrong thread